


The Black Panther of Hudson Valley

by orphan_account



Category: Sleepy Hollow (TV)
Genre: Alternate History, Curtain Fic, Letters, Multi, Supernatural Elements, Threesome - F/F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-04
Updated: 2014-01-04
Packaged: 2018-01-07 11:58:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1119562
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Or that one Abbie and Jenny saved Ichabod from a cat of local lore.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Black Panther of Hudson Valley

**Author's Note:**

  * For [aphrodite_mine](https://archiveofourown.org/users/aphrodite_mine/gifts).



The creature came to Ichabod when he was trying to sleep.

The creature was about three feet tall and seven feet wide.  It had the appearance of a cougar with black fur. 

Ichabod was naked under the covers of the bed.  He could feel the creature dragging his ankles off the bed’s edge.  He woke up to see the creature nibbling his feet.  To his surprise, Ichabod couldn’t feel the creature’s teeth sinking into his skin.  But he was horrified that his feet were disappearing before his eyes.

When the creature noticed Ichabod was awake, he disappeared.

Ichabod looked down at his feet.  They were still there.  He wiggled his toes, then went back to bed.

 

Ichabod called Abbie on her cell phone.  He left her a message. 

_“Dear Miss Mills, I trust this arrow missive finds you well.  My last missive had the exceptional fortuity to reach you, so I believe this missive will also reach you.  If not, I shall have to complete this mission on my own._

_“It seems my home is being visited by a creature I have never seen before.  The creature nearly took off my feet.  If I may, I would like to request your presence as well as the presence of your computer so that we may discover what this creature is.  I fear the lady from the world of the Hot Chixxx--why would anyone want to spell ‘chicks’ with three Xs?--may want to tempt me again.”_

 

“Look, Crane.”  Abbie turned her laptop towards Ichabod.  The two of them were sitting at Ichabod’s table.  “American Monster Hoaxes.  This site might have the creature you’re looking for.”

“American Monster Hoaxes?  The creature that I saw last night was real.  I almost lost my feet!  ‘Tis incredible that I am still able to walk.”

“ _I’m_ not saying you’re wrong.  The _site_ is saying you’re wrong.”

“Where can I air my grievances?  I assume not to a descendant of Franklin or Jefferson, because, as you so kindly told me, they are now dead.”

“You can always email the webmaster.  But I’m here to help you find out what this thing is, not to ‘air your grievances.’  See?”  Abbie pointed to the webmaster’s email address.  johnneal@americanmonsterhoaxes.com.  You can write him later.

Abbie clicked on a page that had a pictorial list of known monsters, including some of the more famous ones: Slenderman, The Rake, Bessie, Champ.

Ichabod pointed at a picture.  “That’s the monster that tried to take off my feet.  They call it the Black Panther of Hudson Valley.”

“The Black Panther of Hudson Valley?  I’ve never heard of that one.”

Abbie clicked the page.  The next page had drawings of the Black Panther of Hudson Valley on it, along with a few eyewitness reports.

“Wait a minute.  Miss Mills, I’ve heard of this creature before.  The reports I’ve heard never described what the panther looked like, but I’ve read of it before.  Dutch traders blamed the Panther for destroying a chateau on Castle Island and later Fort Nassau.  They were so frightened of the beast they fled the area where Fort Nassau was for a new settlement, Fort Orange.”

Abbie pointed at an account below the Fort Nassau account.  “Let me guess.  You were personally involved in the Battle of Trenton thing.”

“Yes, I was.  When I fought the Battle of Trenton with George Washington, we ended up capturing more Hessian men than we shot at that day.  And of the Hessians we saw only a handful was wounded.  We saw no dead.  I do not know of this Mr. Freitag this web...site quotes, but if he saw the Panther snatch up these Hessians in thin air at the time, I believe his account to be true.  Meanwhile, your so-called history books say the American soldiers killed 20 or so Hessians.”  Ichabod cleared his throat.  “So, does this Panther have any weaknesses?”

“I don’t see anything...no, wait.  This account of a Panther sighting in the Lake George Area.  This was in 1978.  A man who owned a cabin there put up handmade wreaths on all the doors of his cabin to keep the Panther out.”

“Miss Mills, are you saying we must partake of handicrafts to keep this monster away from my cabin?”

Abbie shrugged.  “I guess so, even though this website doesn’t say what type of wreaths the man used.”

“There are many items we can gather to make a wreath.  Rosemary, garlic, basil…Do you know of a market nearby?”

“There’s a farmer’s market in Tarrytown.”

“That is wonderful.”

“They’re only open on Saturday mornings.”

“Well, that’s rather inconvenient.”

“We’ll have to go to the next best place: the A&P in White Plains.”

“The ‘A&P?’  Who is ‘A’ and who is ‘P’?”

“I’ll explain later.”

 

“Is this how your generation preserves herbs these days?” Ichabod said, looking at a package of fresh basil at the White Plains A&P.  “‘Tis not in the ground.  ‘Tis encased in a thin coating of what your generation calls plastic.  And how on earth is this thing getting any water?”

“It’s a convenience package for people that can’t afford to grow their own basil, Crane.”

“I foresee nothing but death for the basil trapped in this package of plastic.”

When an A&P employee stocking apples saw Abbie and Ichabod filling their cart with half of the store’s garlic, the employee tried to stop them.  Abbie flashed her badge at the employee.  “This is police business,” she said.

Along with the basil, the impromptu shopping list also included all the store’s bundles of fresh mint and bay leaf, about half of the store’s inventory of garlic, and a spice jar of cinnamon sticks.

The cashier working at register #3 blinked when she discovered she had to ring up 25 dollars worth of garlic.

“We're having a large dinner party,” Abbie told the cashier.  “It has an Italian theme.  You need all the garlic you can get.”

 

To their surprise, Jenny was waiting for Ichabod in his cabin, sitting at his table.  She wasn't expecting Abbie to be with him and especially with grocery bags in hand.

“Ah, Miss Jenny, I was not expecting your presence this evening.”

“You can say that again.”

“Oh, you weren’t expecting Miss Mills.  There’s a good reason why she’s here.”

“I’m going to put these bags in the kitchen,” Abbie said.  “And I’m going to get those branches you’re looking for.”

“Great.”

Abbie went into the kitchen, although she didn’t have to.

“My home is currently being visited by some sort of vile creature that almost took my feet off.  Prior to your arrival, Miss Mills and I were doing research on the creature.  We determined ‘twas the local menace known as the Black Panther of Hudson Valley.  The only way my home will be free of the Panther is if we hang handmade herbal wreaths on all our doors.  Miss Mills and I went to a nearby market, which I have been informed is short for a company that used to trade tea and coffee while I was under my curse, to gather the herbs.  All we need are some twigs and torch light, and we should be done before midnight.”

“Thought we were going to cause trouble tonight.”

“I haven’t forgotten about your proposition, Miss Jenny, but I would like to not disappear in the middle of the night because of some night terror.  Once Miss Mills comes back from the forest, we’ll start making wreaths with the herbs we’ve acquired.  You are cordially invited to join us.”

“For arts and crafts hour?”

“I know you care about us, Miss Jenny.  I know you’ll stay.”

Ichabod sat down at the table.  Jenny decided to stay.

At Ichabod’s table, Jenny twirled a bay leaf between her fingers.  “How am I supposed to make a wreath out of this?  This would be more useful if I could make a lockpick out of it.  A flimsy lock pick, but maybe I could get it to work.”

“'Tis not hard, Miss Jenny.”

Ichabod sat next to Jenny.

“You take a small bundle of the leaves…”  Ichabod grabbed a few of the bay leaves and a spool of light twine.  “And you secure the leaves with twine.”  He tied the bay leaf bundle and spun it in his fingers.

“How does this get on a wreath?”

“Once we’re done with the bundles, we’re going to twist the twigs into a circular frame, and then we’re going to tie the bundles to the wreath frames.”

“How are we going to bundle the garlic and the cinnamon sticks for the wreaths, Crane?”

Ichabod cleared his throat.  “There are some things that can’t be bundled, Miss Mills.  For better and for worse.”

 

By midnight Ichabod, Abbie and Jenny had made four wreaths: a mint wreath, a bay leaf wreath, a basil wreath, and a garlic wreath.  Each wreath had two sticks of cinnamon woven into the bundles of herbs.

“I do think this wreath would be most effective near my bedroom, Miss Mills,” Ichabod said, holding the garlic wreath. 

“Oh, _hell_ no.  I’m not coming to this cabin any more if it smells like garlic.”

“Like you’d come back to this cabin without Ichabod in it.”

Abbie looked at Jenny.

“Ladies, I do believe the menace that is lurking near my cabin is much more important than the eventual smell of it at the moment.  So are we in agreeance that the garlic wreath goes on the outside of the front door?”

Abbie and Jenny nodded.

“Should the bay leaf wreath go on the back door?”

“That sounds like a good idea, Crane.”

“You never let him--”

Ichabod took the garlic and the bay leaf wreaths.  “I’ll choose the hanging locations of the wreaths myself.”

 

Ichabod hung the bay leaf wreath at the back of the cabin.  The basil leaf wreath was hung near the cabin’s bathroom, and the mint wreath was hung near Ichabod’s bedroom.

“Ladies,” Ichabod said after he had finished hanging all the wreaths, “I forgot to mention that until the Panther has left my lodgings for good, I would like to request your company for the night.”

“Crane, are you asking us to sleep over?”

“I’m afraid I am.  I should’ve told you earlier so you could’ve gotten your toiletries in advance.”

Jenny shrugged.  “Corbin allowed me to keep a few things here in case I needed to stay the night.  I’ll dig them up.  Abbie and I can share if we need to.”

“Splendid.”

“I wear pajamas when I go to bed, Jenny.”

“You’re wearing a bra and panties right now, right?  What’s the problem?”

 

At 2 AM in the morning, Ichabod, wearing drawers, slept between Jenny, on his left, and Abbie, on his right, in his bed.  Corbin had a spacious bed that fit all of them without any trouble.  (No one questioned _why_ he would need such a spacious bed.)

The Black Panther of Hudson Valley appeared at the cabin.  It saw the garlic at the front door.  It wasn’t impressed.  Because the creature could, the Panther went through the house to see the other wreaths. Then it went to the only place it could sense human warmth, Ichabod’s bedroom.

The Panther once again started chomping on Ichabod’s feet.  It was slower this time so the chomping wouldn’t wake up Ichabod.

Abbie felt Ichabod’s shoulder slide against hers when she woke up.  She blinked and noticed the Panther eating Ichabod.

“Jenny?  Jenny, wake up!” Abbie whispered.

Jenny woke up.  Abbie pointed at the Panther, who was now up to Ichabod’s left knee.

Jenny reached into her bra and pulled out the spice jar filled with cinnamon sticks.  She opened the spice jar under the bedsheets.  Then she threw a cinnamon stick at the Panther.  The stick landed in the middle of the Panther’s face.

The Panther stopped eating Ichabod.  There was smoke where the cinnamon stick landed.

Abbie pointed at the jar of cinnamon sticks.  Jenny passed her the jar.

The two of them threw the cinnamon sticks until the smoking Panther disappeared.  Ichabod’s legs were still intact.

Ichabod woke up in a sitting position on the cabin’s floor.  He stood up.

“Ladies, did the Panther almost eat me again?”

“Yeah, Crane, it almost ate you.”

“How did you save me?”

Jenny showed Crane the cinnamon stick jar.  “They sell bags of these, you know.”

“Well, now that the beast has been exterminated, I shall now return to this bed.”

“No.  Stay there,” Jenny said.

“Why?”

“No reason.”  She stared at his bare chest.

“Yeah.”  Abbie nodded.  “Stay there, Crane.”

 

By sunrise, Jenny had left the cabin.  After Abbie and Ichabod got dressed, they found a note on his table:

_We should do this again sometime._

It was in Jenny’s handwriting.

“I’m pleased that Miss Jenny enjoyed our little impromptu sleepover.”

“I gotta go, Crane.  The station needs me.  I’ll pick you up if I need something.”

“Farewell, Miss Mills.  Oh, will you need your computer today?  I would like to use your ‘electronic mail’ to write to Mr. Neal of American Monster Hoaxes.”

Abbie shook her head.  “I’ll pick it up later this evening.”

“Thank you.”

**To:** johnneal@americanmonsterhoaxes.com

**From:** abbie.mills@gogoline.net

**Subject:** A Call to Protest the Existence of The Black Panther of the Hudson Valley

 

Dear Sir

Using the ‘On Line’ Stationery of My Friend Miss Abigail Mills, I am writing to you to protest the Falsehoods on what Ms. Mills calls your ‘Web Site’ American Monster Hoaxes, for I knew of an Ancestor of Mine that fought in the Battle of Trenton on 26 December 1776 that also wrote of the Disappearance of 22 Hessians on that day, He attributes the Disappearance of the Hessians to the Black Panther of Hudson Valley

I too have encountered The Panther, the Creature nearly ate me in my Slumber, it is immune to all protection Herbs except for Cinnamon, I believe ‘tis what the man who defended his Cabin in the year 1978 used to keep The Panther away

My Friend Miss Mills has granted me Permission to exchange Letters through this Electronic Mail system if you care for a written Debate, it may take me a few Hours to respond since I am new to using a ‘Lap Top Key Board’, it may take me a couple of hours, but I hope we will keep in touch Your Humble Servant, Ichabod Crane

**Author's Note:**

> The wreaths made in this story were based on [Martha Stewart's herb wreaths.](http://www.marthastewart.com/920158/martha-stewart-builds-useful-herb-wreath) (Careful, autoplay video.)
> 
> As for the email, it is based on actual letters written in the 1700s. The spelling and grammar of the email is intentional.


End file.
